1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a device for holding a nursing bottle for an infant. Specifically, this invention is a portable gimballed device for the support and angular adjustment, by the infant, of a nursing bottle.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The nursing of an infant can be very time consuming. Also, it can be very physically taxing on the person tasked with this effort. Couple with this the fact that an infant's desire to be fed is independent of the activities taking place around him. This usually requires the parent to leave what they are doing to feed the infant. This is because bottle-fed infants require that their bottles be held by someone else. Typically, infants are not capable of supporting or controlling a bottle during the first 9-12 months. And also important is the fact that manual feeding aids in the parent-child bonding process early in the infant's development. But, in todays fast-past society, typically, both parents are required to take on a large amounts of responsibility in maintaining a household.
Infant care outside of the household, in hospitals and day-care centers, have been faced with increasing staffing shortages. These shortages have led to increased stress and frustration on both the part of these staffs and the infants in their care.
This device will assist in the above mentioned areas of infant care. This will be achieved by minimizing the manual involvement of parents and other infant attendants during feeding. The attendant will only be required to visually observe the baby during feeding.
Heretofore, a number of inventors have attempted to develop adequate holders for nursing baby bottles. But all have fallen short, in one way or another, of addressing a majority of the related problems. And almost always overlooked are the problems faced by the purchaser of such a device, the parent or institution. This is one major reason there has been no widespread acceptance of any of the prior art. The present invention has been designed to improve upon the prior art from a number of different aspects. Primarily, it seeks to adequately serve the needs of both infant and parent or infant care worker.
In reviewing the prior art, we find a number of problems that prevented them from completely serving the needs of the users. One major problems with most of the prior art is that they can only be used in one nursing venue. Devices like that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,388 to Marks, Apr. 5, 1988 requires clamping to a rigid member of a crib. Or U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,654 to Crook, Feb. 16, 1982 is only useable when secured to an infant seat. These devices add additional constraints to the infant feeding operation. A nursing bottle holder should not impose severe limits on the number of places the infant can be fed. It should easily adapt to the location of the baby or a place selected by the parent or attendant.
In addition to being venue limited, other devices provide either too much or too little support for the bottle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,837 to Aguirre, Mar. 29, 1988 holds the nursing bottle rigidly preventing a baby from moving his head. This prevents the infant from observing things going on around him, which leads to a feeling of isolation for the child. Also, when the liquid in the bottle reaches a certain level, the infant begins ingesting air. This can lead to Colic. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,836 to Barnes, Mar. 29, 1988 the bottle is fixed and the infant is placed at an angle. This confines the baby to a single awkward resting position. The high side wall prevents the baby from looking around during feeding. And the holding device makes ejection of the bottle, by the infant, almost impossible.
On the other extreme, U.S. Pat. No. 2,828,097 to Faunce, Mar. 25, 1958 is but one example of a number of inventions that used the free swinging bottle technique. This type of device suspends the bottle from one or more chains, ropes, or elastic straps. This system allows for a wide range of motion. This allows movement by the baby, but does not adequately control this movement for the baby. In addition, if the baby releases the bottle momentarily, it is unlikely the baby could recover the bottle without assistance. Also, due to the inherent instability of this type of design, an active baby could cause the bottle to swing or bounce about violently. This event could possibly injure or scare the infant.
In an effort to address the bottle stability problem, some prior art inventions attempt to allow for movement of the baby during nursing. This is important from a number of standpoints, for example it allows the baby to adjust himself to reduce fatigue. And also, the infant is free to observe things around it. But these designs fall short in aiding in the development of the infant's head-eye and hand-eye coordination. This should be achieved by the infant observing the motion of the bottle relative to his or her own movements. This is a first step towards the baby being able to control the bottle and nurse independently. Nor do these designs attempt to allow the moveable bottle to be released and recovered by the infant. The invention detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,731 to Filip, Dec. 28, 1976 attempts to allow movement of the nursing bottle, but suffers from some of the drawbacks associated with the hanging bottle holders mentioned in the previous paragraph. In most positions, release of the bottle by the infant can result in the bottle swinging about and possibly harming the child. And, while nursing, the infant must support the weight of the bottle (and its contents) and the bottle gripping device with his lips and gums. In addition, although it is claimed that the bottle can move in three mutually perpendicular directions, this motion is complex and unnatural. Each of the degrees of freedom are coupled and interrelated. In other words, in order to move the bottle vertically, the infant must also move an equal amount horizontally. This is confusing for the developing infant and does not properly aid in the accurate development of the infant's coordination or motor skills. Even though this particular design is a stand-alone unit, it has several other drawbacks. Most significant amongst them is the fact that due to its considerable structure, access to the baby during feeding for things such as changing a diaper is not possible. Also, the inventor claims that this design is portable. But this requires a parent to carry around at least two large and awkward U-shaped metal supports, which could be easily damaged in the process. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,133 to Craig, Apr. 3, 1962 the bottle position can be adjusted in height above the infant, but no provision is made for movement by the baby during nursing. In addition, this rather large and relatively heavy device requires that the baby exert continuous effort in order to keep the bottle in his mouth. If the baby releases pressure on the bottle nipple momentarily, the bottle is immediately snapped away and is not recoverable by the infant. This can be a cause of much frustration on the part of both the infant and the parents.
It is also important to note that with almost all of the prior art designs, no effort has been put into providing for use of the device in the event it is required to be installed, after nursing by hand has begun, without interrupting feeding. Once feeding is interrupted considerable effort is often required to get the infant to resume feeding. This is important in the event that a situation arises, during parent-assisted feeding, that requires the immediate attention of the parent. This interruption should not cause the infant's feeding to be suspended.